Winders are machines that roll lengths of paper, commonly known as paper webs, into rolls. These machines are capable of rolling lengths of web into rolls at high speeds through an automated process.
Turret winders are well known in the art. Conventional turret winders comprise a rotating turret assembly which support a plurality of mandrels for rotation about a turret axis. The mandrels travel in a circular path at a fixed distance from the turret axis. The mandrels engage hollow cores upon which a paper web can be wound. Typically, the paper web is unwound from a parent roll in a continuous fashion, and the turret winder rewinds the paper web onto the cores supported on the mandrels to provide individual, relatively small diameter logs. The rolled product log is then cut to designated lengths into the final product. Final products typically created by these machines and processes are toilet tissue rolls, paper toweling rolls, paper rolls, and the like.
The winding technique used in turret winders is known as center winding. A center winding apparatus, for instance, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Reissue No. 28,353 to Nystrand, which is incorporated herein by reference. In center winding, a mandrel is rotated in order to wind a web into a roll/log, either with or without a core. Typically, the core is mounted on a mandrel that rotates at high speeds at the beginning of a winding cycle and then slows down as the size of the rolled product being wound increases, in order to maintain a constant surface speed, approximately matching web speed. Center winders work well when the web that is being wound has a printed, textured, or slippery surface. Also, typically, center winders are preferable for efficiently producing soft-wound, higher bulk rolled products.
A second type of winding is known in the art as surface winding. A machine that uses the technique of surface winding is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,698. Typically, in surface winding, the web is wound onto the core via contact and friction developed with rotating rollers. A nip is typically formed between two or more co-acting roller systems. In surface winding, the core and the web that is wound around the core are usually driven by rotating rollers that operate at approximately the same speed as the web speed. Surface winding is preferable for efficiently producing hard-wound, lower bulk rolled products.
A winding or rewinder system that can use both center winding and surface winding is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,459,587, U.S. Pat. No. 8,364,290, U.S. Pat. No. 8,262,011, U.S. Pat. No. 8,210,462, U.S. Pat. No. 8,042,761, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,909,282, which are all incorporated herein by reference. The rewinder system disclosed in the above patents has provided great advances in the art. In particular, the rewinder system disclosed in the above patents is capable of not only rapidly and efficiently producing spirally wound rolls of material, but the system is also capable of continuous operation even when a web break fault occurs.
During the production of spirally wound rolls, a “tail seal” process is typically carried out where the trailing end or “tail” of the spirally wound roll is adhered to the surface of the roll in order to prevent the spirally wound product from unraveling during handling and packaging. In many production processes, the tail seal procedure occurs offline after the spirally wound roll has been formed. Tail sealing occurs offline so that the procedure does not interfere with the formation of the rolls. Such offline processes, however, not only create extra process and handling steps, but additional measures are typically needed for tail control during and after winding.
In the past, online tail sealing processes have also been proposed. These processes, however, tend to slow down the process and reduce throughput.
In view of the above, a need exists for a method and apparatus that is capable of applying a tail sealing adhesive online during the production of spirally wound rolls. In particular, a need exists for a method and apparatus for tail sealing that can operate at the same speed at which the rolls are being produced.